Back in this post, I described a new podcast from Edtech guru Kasey Bell called “The Shake Up Learning Show”. As part of the podcast launch team, I finally got to hear a sneak preview of the first five episodes just in time for the public launch of the show on March 26th.
Bell designed the first five episodes to be a series that will focus on meaningful technology integration and dynamic learning strategies for teachers. These episodes will also coincide with a book study on her book “Shake Up Learning: Practical Ideas to Move Learning from Static to Dynamic” beginning on March 28th. I’ll be participating in this round of the book study, so this is perfect timing!
What I Liked: First, I love the music! Bell is from Texas and the music used in both the intro and transitions have a modern honky tonk vibe, heavy on the guitar, which is just fine with me! It catches your attention much like the music used in The Google Teacher Tribe, Bell’s other podcast. Second, there will be a weekly question challenging teacher thinking at the end of each episode. Immediately my mind jumped to how I can use the podcast as a sort of PD with teachers in my two buildings. I can promote the show with teachers and pose the weekly question on Twitter and have our PLN share their answers.
What I Didn’t Like: Honestly…not much. The episodes are a little long running between 37 and 49 minutes, but this might be just me. Most of the podcasts I listen to are on the short side, lasting about 30 minutes. According to podnews.net, podcasts are a multi-tasking medium, meaning you listen while doing something else. For me, I’m driving to and from work. The average commute time in the US is 26 minutes; mine is 30 minutes. So this makes sense. However, the average length of a top 100 podcast is 53 minutes. So again…this is probably just me! 🙂
What’s to Come: Bell has some other segments she’s still planning on, such as on-air lesson coaching for teachers, student interviews and other guests. She just booked a major edtech guru for her show and I can’t wait until the episode for this “free tech” guest. If you are struggling with a particular lesson, content or skill, she wants to hear about and help. Use this On-Air Coaching Application and tell Bell about yourself, your students, and your struggle. You may get to be on the podcast!
The Episodes: In episode one, Bell focuses on her Top 20 Tech Tips for Teachers. The first few were very familiar and are tips I share with teachers too. But there were 3 specific tips I should emphasize more in the future: Tip #12, “Use Digital Tools for Learning” focuses on how to use digital tools throughout the entire learning process from pre-assessment to post-assessment, not just as a summative assessment or end product for a unit. I felt Bell said it best,
“What are these tools going to offer us that help us learn along the way?”.
Tip #13, “Using New Tools to do New Things” focuses on integrating digital tools in new ways. Bell mentions the SAMR model, which we use in my school district and that while some lessons are suited for the substitution level, we should think about how we can use tools in ways different ways. She believes that integrating digital tools is more like a continuum.
Finally, Tip #18 “Publish for a Global Audience” focuses on having students share their finished products with others and get critical feedback. Bell shares that when she had students share their writing on a website and started to receive comments, they wanted to edit their writing! Suddenly it mattered that someone other than their teacher was reading their work. I know this can be a touchy subject in a lot of school districts, but there are ways students can still get feedback without opening it up to the general public. You could do like Hungary Creek Middle School and have community leaders, school board members, and other administrators evaluate student work and still give students the feeling of a larger audience.
In episode two, Bell discuss the 4 C’s: The Superfoods of Learning. This is probably my favorite episode of the 5 because it really made me think about how to approach dynamic learning. In the episode, Bell talks about dynamic learning being about constant change and activity in the classroom. And in today’s world it needs to be! Our students are too visually engaged by what they see outside the classroom, they need more activity inside it! She also mentions how this breeds creativity and that creativity is not about having one right answer or a cookie-cutter way to learning.
Then about halfway through the episode, she hit a big nail on the head for me! I am often asked by teachers how to get their students to stop cheating or what software program we have to track what sites students go to because they copied and pasted an answer and they want to have proof. I always approach from the same direction they do, focusing on the lack of software we have to stop this kind of action. But I’ve been looking at it all wrong and it’s been staring me in the face. It’s the development of the lesson. If there’s no cookie cutter way to do it, then students have to think and use those critical thinking an problem-solving skills and there’s not a way to Google that!
So it’s really about how teachers are developing activities that involve deeper thinking and deeper connections with the content, it involves problem-solving skills.
My biggest takeaway from episode three, which focuses on a Framework for Meaningful Technology Integration was to keep students learning. Bell talks a little more about her teaching days and how she hated to stop students from learning about something they were interested in. We’ve all been there, with that one student who may have a harder time connecting with something, but then…they do! And they rock it and their assignment is great, but then they have to turn in the assignment and you can physically see that enthusiasm start dissipating from them once they realize they won’t continue to work on it. Bell’s solution: don’t have them stop. Yes, that one assignment stops, but their passion for it doesn’t have to. Have them blog about it, or podcast about it, something that lets them still have an outlet for the thing they are passionate about.
Episode four focuses on Easy Lesson Plan Makeovers. She takes example lessons and retools them to have more meaning and more of a purpose when integrating technology tools. One of her examples was to take a lesson about learning the state capitals and instead of having the students fill out a worksheet or color a map to identify the capitals, do an interactive tour using the Google Tour Builder, where students can see images and videos of these actual places. Things that will help make the learning stick.
Episode five focus on how to plan for technology integration. Bell calls this the “eating your veggies” portion of teaching. If you go back to episode 2, she talks about the superfoods and how integrating technology is like having a well-balanced diet. So in this episode she walks the audience through how to really plan out technology integration. She has some questions that she says you should go through when you’re starting to think about how you’re going to design your lesson and these questions are downloadable in the episode notes, so you are able to work with those questions while you’re actually thinking about the lesson.
Technology should be the last piece of the puzzle when developing your lesson. She says if you want to use technology in your lesson but you can’t tell someone else how that technology will enhance the lesson then maybe you need to find another way. This was one of the first things I learned in my current position; not every lesson will require technology and that’s ok. Use it when necessary.
I’m looking forward to what else is in store for this podcast and how it will continue to develop. You can listen to The Shake Up Learning Show starting this Tuesday, March 26 on itunes or any way you listen to podcasts. For more information on the podcast, visit https://shakeuplearning.com/shake-up-learning-show-podcast-with-kasey-bell/
What are some other podcasts you enjoy listening to and can recommend?
Ms Priester EDU 